ABC 400cc flat twin

A couple of photos of an ABC flat twin. The ABC was a Granville Bradshaw designed bike that was manufactured by the aero company Sopwith.

A typically Bradshaw design, the ABC was both futuristic and flawed. The bike featured leaf spring rear suspension at a time when most bikes were rigid. The motor was a 400cc ohv flat twin but the valve gear was a notable weakness and several different brands of after-market improved valve gear appeared soon after the bike's introduction. With standard valve gear the bike was notorious for shooting pushrods out on a horizontal plane.

The 400cc ABC was a limited success with the buying public and was made from 1919 to 1923. The demand for a small, expensive and sophisticated machine was limited in a conservative market. The peculiar fact that Bradshaw designed the bike without a kickstart and that it had to be paddled off to start cannot have helped.

The design was licensed out to Gnome et Rhone in France who had a connection with Sopwith as fellow aviation manufacturers. The Gnome et Rhone version received several improvements (strengthened valve gear, a kickstart and a boost to 500cc) but was also not a big seller and made only from 1920 to 1924.

ABC flat twin. The very dropped bars are slightly
incongruous with footboards and legshields.

The ABC was a luxury machine so it is fitting
to see it in the garden of an upmarket house.
A small dog's butt has cheekily crept in to the picture!

ABC and TT Triumph

An interesting and unlikely pair of machines in this photo, chalk and cheese - different in style, speed and even era.

The bike on the right is an ABC, designed by Granville Bradshaw and manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Co. As with all of Bradshaw's designs it was fairly unorthodox and ahead of its time. Following a minor vogue of a few years earlier rear suspension was swinging arm controlled by leaf springs (Matchless and Indian were there with that a few years previously), the motor was a opposed twin 400cc ohv unit and legshields and footboards were integrated in to the frame. The ABC was a sophisticated bike but developed a reuptation for fragile valve gear and upgrading with aftermarket kits was a popular mod for ABC owners. The design was licensed out to Gnome et Rhone (also coincidentally airplane manufacturers) in France who produced a 500cc version with better developed valve gear. The bike wasn't a great success and was made from 1919 to 1923.

The other machine is a 1927 TT Triumph, a fast, strong and reliable road burner. The TT Triumph was a simple and dependable machine that replaced the earlier 'Ricardo' model developed by Harry Ricardo and featuring a four valve head.

ABC flat twin and TT Triumph riding partners.

The Grom Motorcycle Museum, Vransko, Slovenia part III

The final tranche of photos from the Grom collection in Vransko, Slovenia.

Cracking unrestored german Imme R100.
Very unusual and striking design. A lot of features
ahead of its time. Imme is German for Bee.

A late vintage swiss Motosacoche in the background
and a german Standard Rex Sport model from 1938
to the fore.

A trio of Indians. A 4, a Scout and a Prince.

Tomos 50cc racer.

ABC Scootermota.

Military corner. A Kettenkrad in the background,
a Welbike hiding away up on a shelf and a Moto
Guzzi Nuovo Falcone in the foreground.

Closer up on that Kettenkrad and a Zundapp KS750 Wehrmacht
combo from 1940 in front of it.

Late thirties DKW SB200 two stroke.

Lovely Jawa 500cc ohc twin. A beautifully
styled bike. The headlamp nacelle was allegedly
copied by Turner for Triumph and the engine
is fairly obviously inspiration for Kawasaki's
W650 despite claims that it is a Triumph clone.

Difficult to find an angle to take a photo of this
machine but I wanted to include it as it is a
bit unusual. On the face of it it looks like a fifties
NSU but look at the tank and it says NSU Pretis.
More below..

When NSU discontinued the 175 OSB Maxi model in 1963
production of it was taken up by the Pretis factory in Sarajevo,
former Yugoslavia. Pretis stands for Preduzeće Tito Sarajevo,
they also took on production of the Prima scooter and Prinz car.
Production continued until 1967 when the factory closed.